Kenseth's dream year has him near the top

Driver 7 points behind Johnson for Cup lead with 2 races left to run

Associated Press

Published 8:35 pm, Saturday, November 9, 2013

Avondale, Ariz.

Roughly two months into the season, Mark Martin was having a conversation with Matt Kenseth about the fast start to Kenseth's year. Kenseth had grabbed two wins in his first eight races with Joe Gibbs Racing, and Martin believed his former teammate could have legitimately won all eight of the events.

"I expected him to win races and be awesome and be Matt Kenseth, but the start he had, he could have won them all. Bar none. That was staggering," Martin recalled. "And I remember last year when he was getting ready to leave, he was scared to death. I liked that about him. I liked the fact that he was scared.

"So I like what I see right now. He's living a dream and hitting his full potential, and you don't always get an opportunity to hit your full potential."

It truly is a dream year for Kenseth, who has won a career-best seven races after jumping to JGR following 16 years driving for Jack Roush.

Now, 10 years after winning the only Cup championship of his career, Kenseth is in the thick of another title race. He goes into the penultimate race of the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship Sunday at Phoenix International Raceway trailing Jimmie Johnson by seven points in the standings.

Nationwide:Kyle Busch raced to his 12th Nationwide victory of the year and Austin Dillon maintained his hold on the championship lead with a third-place finish at Phoenix International Raceway.